Marco drifted down from the sky, blue flames fading as his feet touched the ground. Below, Emit tilted its massive head up and said happily, "Amazing, Marco! You defeated Imu. Even though that was only a clone Imu was possessing, I can feel Imu's strength has increased a lot."
Marco sighed, a bit speechless. "Isn't that obvious? The World Government's been around for eight hundred years, which means Joy Boy's been dead for at least that long. In eight hundred years, there's no way Imu just stayed the same. Of course its strength would grow."
Hearing that, a trace of disappointment slipped into Emit's mechanical voice. "That's true. Even if Joy Boy were still alive now, he probably wouldn't be a match for Imu."
Marco scoffed, confidence flashing in his eyes. "Just because Joy Boy couldn't beat Imu doesn't mean I can't."
Emit processed that, then gave a small nod and asked seriously, "Can you really defeat Imu?"
"Yes," Marco replied without hesitation, then added, "Oh, Emit, just how strong was Joy Boy, anyway?"
He'd always been curious about Joy Boy's true power. In the original story, when Emit had untied that knot and released the Conqueror's Haki Joy Boy left behind eight hundred years ago, it had been enough to make Imu drop to its knees in terror.
And from the way the story described it, Imu had been extremely wary of Joy Boy, which only sharpened Marco's curiosity.
Emit hesitated, sounding a bit troubled. "I'm not entirely sure. I only know Joy Boy was very strong, but he was ultimately defeated because Imu ambushed him."
"Ambushed?" Marco asked, intrigued.
"Captain Marco…" Jinbe's voice came from behind.
Marco turned as Jinbe, Jozu, and Vista approached at a run, four Seraphim thudding along with them. Their eyes went wide when they saw the towering robot.
"Did that robot just talk?" one of them blurted out in shock.
"Hello," Emit greeted Vista and the others politely.
"Uh, hello."
"It really is a robot!"
"It's even bigger than your average giant!"
The three stared up at Emit, unable to hide their astonishment.
Marco stepped in to introduce them. "Its name is Emit. From now on, it's our nakama. But its energy is almost depleted, so we'll probably need Vegapunk to figure something out."
The three of them nodded. They didn't understand a thing about technology, but the fact that this robot could talk was enough to shock them.
Jinbe walked over then and handed the terminal controller in his hand to Marco. "Marco, this is the controller Vegapunk left behind before he left. It can control the Seraphim and Pacifista."
Marco took it and glanced at the four Seraphim lined up before him: S‑Hawk, S‑Snake, S‑Bat, and S‑Shark—models based on Mihawk, Boa Hancock, Gekko Moriah, and Jinbe himself.
"Only these four?" Marco asked. "Where are the other three?"
Jinbe answered, "S‑Bear was taken by Dr. Vegapunk. They probably used the power of S‑Bear's Paw‑Paw Fruit to escape at that time.
"As for the Seraphim based on Crocodile and Doflamingo, they were bitten to pieces by Saint Peter."
Marco felt a twinge of regret at the loss of two Seraphim, but then he remembered: in the original story, Saint Peter had bitten off the arm of the Ancient Robot Emit, and during the Egghead Island War, he had also bitten off Big Mom's arm. Thinking of that, Marco clearly understood just how terrifying Saint Peter's bite force was in his sandworm form.
With Imu defeated, the pirates of the Three Emperors Alliance erupted into cheers, celebrating their victory. The captains of the Phoenix Pirates looked at Marco with open admiration.
"It's truly you, Captain Marco!"
"Even the World King Imu was defeated by Captain Marco!"
"Captain Marco is truly the strongest in the world!"
Marco swept his gaze over Egghead Island. There were no Marines, no Gorosei, and no God's Knights left. Only then did he finally let out a quiet breath of relief. They had successfully held Egghead.
Even so, if the Gorosei happened to return through the teleportation array right now, things would get dangerous.
After several hours of intense fighting, Marco could feel his stamina wearing thin. The back‑to‑back battles against the Gorosei and Imu had left him both mentally and physically exhausted. Even so, he issued his orders without hesitation:
"Hurry. Immediately organize the transfer of all machinery on the island. Take everything that can be taken. Absolutely nothing must be left for the World Government."
His words left many people stunned.
"Captain Marco, you want us to move all of this?" someone asked. "Isn't this island our territory?"
Marco shook his head. "Egghead Island's too close to the Marines, and our losses are way too heavy right now. If the Gorosei and the God's Knights come again, we won't be able to handle it."
Kaido and Big Mom were both gravely injured. If the four Gorosei showed up together with the God's Knights again, their Three Emperors Alliance would be crushed without question. There was no choice but to abandon Egghead Island—but before retreating, Marco was determined to strip it clean.
"Hurry up and move! The Gorosei, the God's Knights, and the Marines could attack again at any moment. Get every piece of machinery off this island as fast as you can. Don't leave a single screw for the World Government!"
"Yes!"
At his order, the Phoenix Pirates sprang into action, rushing into the laboratories.
Just then, Garrett came running over, eyes brimming with tears, face twisted with panic. "Marco, please, save Mama! Mama's about to collapse!"
Meanwhile, on Egghead Island, inside a Marine warship's infirmary, Big Mom lay on a bed, her life force fading by the moment.
The Big Mom Pirates clustered around her, wrapping bandages and trying desperately to treat her wounds—but it was all futile.
This time, she had suffered not only two fatal injuries but had also overdrawn both her lifespan and her mental energy.
First, she had been cut down by a single slash from Saint Nusjuro, and it had cost a massive amount of her lifespan just to heal. After that, she'd stolen the lifespans of nearby Marines to make up for what she'd lost.
The Soul-Soul Fruit could quickly replenish her shortened lifespan—but it couldn't restore her exhausted mind.
Later, Saint Peter had bitten off her arm. Once again she used the Soul-Soul Fruit to regenerate it, then plundered more Marines' lifespans to fill the gap.
The third time, she wasn't so lucky. Cornered by Saint Peter and Saint Nusjuro together, she tried to flee but couldn't, and was instantly struck down with devastating wounds.
Afterward, she was captured, dragged aboard a Marine warship, had her throat slit by Fujitora, and was thrown into the sea.
Even for a "steel balloon" like Big Mom, there was a limit to how much punishment she could take. Her spirit and body were both on the verge of collapse.
"This is bad! Mama's heartbeat is getting weaker and weaker!" the ship's doctor shouted.
Another doctor spoke up anxiously, "No, Mama's gone into shock from massive blood loss. We have to give her a transfusion, but the needle won't even go in!"
Katakuri's face was like stone as he listened. He didn't understand medicine; all he could do was leave Mama's life in the hands of the professionals.
From the moment she had fallen until now, countless images flashed through Big Mom's mind. Her consciousness was hazy, slipping in and out, yet for some reason her past rose up before her with unusual clarity—most of all, scenes of her youth, when she rampaged across the seas in all her glory.
From joining the world‑famous Rocks Pirates with her overwhelming strength, to founding her own crew, building the Big Mom Pirates around the Charlotte Family, and then rising until she was feared as one of the Four Emperors who ruled a whole territory—this was the brilliant life of the great pirate Big Mom.
Once, she had absolute confidence in her power. She truly believed that, in her lifetime, she would seize the One Piece and become the first female pirate king in history.
Her dream was to create a peaceful nation where all races could live as equals. Her methods were cruel and terrifying, and no matter what the world said of her, in the depths of her heart she had always, in her own way, sincerely wanted to bring happiness and sweetness to this world.
But now, she was going to die.
Back during the Whole Cake Island War, she had already begun to regret her alliance with Kaido and Marco. In that battle, the Big Mom Pirates had lost two‑thirds of their members, their strength gutted.
Even so, the Three Emperors Alliance had emerged victorious in the end, and so Big Mom chose to keep believing in that alliance and stayed with them.
And now, she regretted it again. Maybe she never should have joined forces with Kaido and Marco. If she hadn't, she would still be the queen of Totto Land. Her children would be safe, and she could be enjoying the warmth of her big family gathered around her.
In this Egghead Island War, she had finally seen it clearly: the gulf between herself and the World Government. Against those Gorosei, she was no match at all.
If she hadn't teamed up with Marco and Kaido, she never would've ended up facing monsters like this. What did the pirate king, or ruling the world, have to do with her, anyway? You could only chase dreams if you were alive to do it.
Outside, Marco had just reached the warship with Garett.
The moment Katakuri saw him, he called out urgently, barely containing his excitement, "Marco, hurry and save Mama..."
Katakuri knew very well about Marco's other role as a ship's doctor. His medical skills were far above those of the Big Mom Pirates' own medics.
Marco gave a brief nod and stepped into the infirmary, his gaze falling on Big Mom sprawled on the bed. Her neck was tightly sealed with mochi by Katakuri.
"Lord Marco..." the Big Mom Pirates' ship doctor blurted, unable to hide his relief at Marco's arrival.
Big Mom's face was drained of color. Aside from the gruesome wound at her neck, the sword slash running from her chest down to her abdomen was still exuding an eerie, lingering chill.
Marco extended his senses with observation haki and felt her heartbeat—faint and faltering. A glance at the electrocardiogram confirmed it; her heart could stop at any moment.
"How bad is it?" Marco asked bluntly.
The ship doctor answered at once, "Lord Marco, Mama is in hemorrhagic shock from massive blood loss. On top of that, she's still suffering from her earlier serious injuries and severe mental exhaustion. The biggest problem is we tried to give her a blood transfusion, but every needle bent before it could pierce Mama's skin."
"A steel balloon, huh?" Marco said evenly.
Blue regeneration flames bloomed in his palm. He pressed them to Big Mom's neck and along the gash on her chest, the flames licking at the wounds without burning her.
"With the Regeneration Flame, we can at least keep her alive for now," he said, expression turning grave. "Next, as long as we get blood into her, she should pull out of the shock. Once she wakes up, she can burn some of her lifespan to heal the rest herself."
He took up a needle and lifted her arm, squinting at it. "With an arm this thick, I can't even see a vein," he muttered.
As he spoke, a sharp haki blade condensed at his fingertip, coated in armament haki. Like a finely tuned surgical tool, his blade-like finger sliced into the back of Big Mom's hand, cutting through skin and layers of fat to expose the vein hidden within.
He slid the needle smoothly into her vein.
"Alright, the blood problem's dealt with. With that body of hers, waking up is only a matter of time." As he spoke, another sphere of Regeneration Flame bloomed in Marco's palm and sank into Big Mom's torn flesh, sealing the wound in flickering blue fire. "Okay. That should do it."
Katakuri eyed him, surprise flickering across his usually calm face. "That's all it takes?"
Marco nodded, his expression turning solemn. "Yeah. The Regeneration Flame will patch up her injuries. The wound on her neck is fatal, sure, but fixing that isn't hard. The real problem is the sword slash from her chest down to her abdomen."
His tone grew heavier. "The sword Saint Nusjuro used is the Shodai Kitetsu—a cursed blade. And Nusjuro himself has terrifying swordsmanship."
He pointed to the ice sealing the long gash running down Big Mom's torso. "Right now, the sword aura Nusjuro left inside her is still tearing at her body. Maybe it's tied to his Devil Fruit, maybe to the blade—but either way, this wound's healing painfully slow."
"Still, for Big Mom, it's not that big of an issue," Marco went on. "As long as she wakes up, she can burn lifespan to speed up her recovery. For her, as long as she doesn't spend all of it at once, even if she loses a chunk, she can slowly earn it back."
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